Showers Wipe Out Record Try Michigan Decathlete Captures 5 Events

DELAND — The hopes of a mile world masters record for the first Masters Sports Series Saturday afternoon at DeLand High School were washed away, but the meet wasn't a total loss.

World-class runner Bill Stewart, 43, of Ann Arbor, Mich., was to attempt to break the masters world record of 4:18.5 held by Jim McDonald of New Zealand. Stewart holds the indoor mile record at 4:11. He set it at age 40 but has been running mostly longer races since.

The mile was set to go at 3 p.m., but a thundershower moved across just before the start. It rained continuously for more than an hour, canceling the remainder of the meet.

''It's too bad. I've been training the last two weeks for this,'' Stewart said. ''I'm ready to grab three officials and just go and run. It's a good thing we didn't do this, though. I'd hate for the record to be a footnote to somebody being hit by lightning.''

The meet was the first of five in the Masters Sports Series for athletes 30 and over.

Although Stewart didn't get to run, several hard-core track athletes did. Hamilton Morningstar, 69, of Flint, Mich., won five events in the 65-69 age group.

Morningstar is one of the top decathletes in his age group. His toss of 39 feet, 4 1/2 inches, was farther than competitors in any age group.

His discus throw of of 118-8 beat everyone but Pete Gulgin, 71, of Punta Gorda. Gulgin's throw of 127-8 was a national age-group record for a 1.5 kilo discus.